In Reply to: Re: Why is it? posted by porceleindoll on February 10, 2005 at 07:22:07:
I see no reason whatsoever why we shouldn't have such discussions on this board as long as they respect others' rights to their beliefs. I like the tone Porceleindoll described in her post, and I suspect that she and her dad are very civil and respect each other's feelings because they care about each other & want to maintain a longterm relationship.
The problem comes in when we don't really care for the other person's feelings, we have no relationship to lose & we just let it rip. All the pent-up frustration we have with a particular worldview comes out toward the person who steps up to defend it. Sometimes also we 'project' onto them. We know an athiest/Christian who is really an obnoxious irritant in our lives, so when someone comes saying more or less the same points of argument, we 'project' all our personal dislike for the athiest/Christian we know on the poster who may not be anything like that.
I think if we also approach this not trying to convert the other person, then we won't be frustrated when they don't convert.